"Thank you for my presents."
"You're welcome, concession-stand girl."
This exchange occurs on Margot and Robert's first real "date" outside the movie theater. They meet up at a 7-Eleven one night while Margot is studying for finals, though it's clear she's a little ambivalent about whether she wants to see him. She initially deflects his offer to meet, and then finally agrees but goes in her pajamas—not exactly the getup one might spend hours planning for a date they really care about. Their outing is organized around the central inside joke of their relationship: Robbie offers to buy Margot a pack of Red Vines. This demonstrates that their relationship is still fairly shallow, as the fact that Robert likes Red Vines is all that Margot really knows about him. This is further confirmed when he jokingly refers to her as "concession-stand girl": even though he knows her name, they are both more comfortable reveling in their small number of shared inside jokes than revealing new information about themselves.
"Why are you texting all the time? Are you having an affair with someone?"
This quote exemplifies how absorbed Margot is into her burgeoning relationship with Robert: when she goes home for winter break, she's glued to her phone so intensely that her family members (jokingly) suspect her of having an affair. Although she obviously doesn't have a spouse to cheat on, her crush on Robert has all the fervor and intensity of an extramarital tryst. Of course, part of this sense of illicit excitement comes from the fact that Robert is much older; he is, in many ways, more exciting and mysterious than Margot's peers. This quote is also central to understanding how Margot and Robert's relationship evolved primarily through technologically-mediated communication. The most intense, "honeymoon"-ey development of their crush takes place via text, which allows them to get to know each other quickly, but eventually poses problems when they try to continue the relationship in person.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to murder you."
Robert says this to Margot on their first date after she returns from winter break. As he drives her to a movie they plan to see together, Margot suddenly feels uncomfortable, realizing that she hardly knows Robert at all—as she sits in his car, she thinks that he could "take her someplace and rape and murder her; she hardly knew anything about him" (7). This speaks to the uncertainty she still feels about him, even after their engaged text-message exchange over the vacation. At the same time, the fact that Robert makes this joke right as the thought crosses Margot's mind suggests that they share some kind of connection, as they've both sensed the same discomfort and appear to be on the same page. Nevertheless, the car ride remains concerningly quiet after this, signaling that Margot and Robert might not be as compatible in real life as they are via text.
"How old are you?"
"I'm twenty."
"Oh, I thought you were older."
When Robert takes Margot to a bar after the movie, he finally finds out—definitively—how much older he is. When he first suggests going to a bar for a drink, Margot is clearly uncomfortable, but doesn't say exactly why. She tries to coax Robert into going to one of her usual student spots, with a lax policy about underage drinking, but he sees these bars as "student ghetto" and attempts to take her somewhere nicer, without realizing she's still too young to legally get in. Margot is rejected by the bouncer, and humiliated as Robert realizes she's under 21. Again, this moment testifies to the fact that, while the two have communicated constantly for the past several weeks, they know relatively little about each other. The story seems to suggest that this is a consequence of their text-message romance: had they spent more time together in person, they might've had more realistic pictures of one another, including understanding their age difference more fully. After a moment of shared humiliation, however, Robert is a gentleman about the encounter, and soothes Margot before initiating their first on-the-lips kiss. This moment is hopeful, suggesting that Margot and Robert might eventually have the kind of healthy relationship where conflict and vulnerability, handled maturely, actually bring them closer together.
"Making out in the front seat like a teen-ager....I'd have thought you'd be too old for that, now that you're twenty."
After finding a bar that will turn a blind eye to Margot's poorly-made fake ID, she and Robert get drunk together. After a few drinks, Margot seems to be ready to go home with Robert—though it's unclear whether she's genuinely excited about the prospect of being with him, or simply infatuated with the version of herself she believes he's attracted to. Her drunken self-evaluation reveals that she feels like an "irresistible temptation" standing beside him, almost as though her youth and desirability are accentuated in comparison to his age and mediocrity. Nevertheless, her alcohol-addled mind leads her back to Robert's car, where they make out in the front seat, and eventually back to his house. This quote brings Robert's questionable side into sharp relief: here, he knows fully well that Margot is drunk and that she is only twenty. Nevertheless, he proceeds to initiate a sexual encounter, giving little thought to whether it's the responsible course of action.
"Wait. Have you ever done this before?"
When Robert and Margot begin having sex, he pauses their rendezvous to inquire whether Margot is still a virgin. She isn't, but she's amused by the idea that Robert thinks she is. She responds by laughing uncontrollably: losing her virginity was a drawn-out, emotional affair with her long-term high school boyfriend, not an impulsive act with a virtual stranger. As Margot recalls the degree of intimacy and planning she put into having sex with her former boyfriend, the casualness of her flirtation with Robert is emphasized by comparison. This serves to exemplify, again, how little they really know each other. Not only have they never discussed their prior sexual experiences, they're also ill-equipped to handle the discomfort of this moment. It's hard to recover from this and Margot finds that her vibes have been killed: she finds the rest of their sexual encounter unpleasurable, even revolting.
"Hi Margot, I saw you out at the bar tonight. I know you said not to text you but I just wanted to say you looked really pretty. I hope you're doing well!"
"I know I shouldnt [sic] say this but I really miss you"
...
'I felt like we had a real connection did you not feel that way or..."
...
"Are you fucking that guy right now"
"Are you"
"Are you"
"Are you"
"Answer me"
"Whore."
These text messages from Robert constitute the last lines of "Cat Person." After Margot tells him she isn't interested in pursuing their relationship any further, she accidentally runs into him at a bar with her friends. When she gets home, she receives a string of text messages—initially vulnerable, but increasingly angry and menacing. Robert's hurt feelings quickly take a turn for the bitter as he accuses Margot of sleeping with one of the friends she was with at the bar, and resolve into an accusation of her promiscuity: "Whore." This goes to show that, despite being fourteen years older than Margot, his age doesn't come with maturity: he still handles rejection by lashing out, likely embarrassed by his own vulnerable disclosure that he misses being with Margot.
